Actress Valerie Perine, known for her role in Christopher Reeve’s “Superman,” has died. She was 82 years old.
The late actress passed away Monday morning at her home in Beverly Hills, California, after a “courageous” battle with Parkinson’s disease, her friend Stacey Souther announced on Facebook.
“It is with deep sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of Valerie’s passing,” Souther began. “She faced Parkinson’s disease with incredible courage and compassion and never once complained.”
He remembered Perine as “a true source of inspiration who lived life to the fullest,” and said, “The world doesn’t feel as beautiful without her.”
“I love you, Valerie,” Souther concluded her emotional message. “I’ll see you on the other side.”
Souther has also started a GoFundMe page to raise $35,000 to give Perrine “the farewell she deserves.”
Born on September 3, 1943 in Galveston, Texas, Perine began working as a showgirl at the Stardust Resort and Casino in Las Vegas in 1968.
Perine began acting in 1972, when she was cast as Montana Wildhack in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
In an interview published in July 2025, she said, “Acting wasn’t something I was pursuing. I was at a small dinner party where an agent was looking for someone to play the role of Montana Wildhack in George Roy Hill’s film Slaughterhouse-Five.”
She added: “My agent saw something in me and thought I was perfect for the role. That’s how I became an actress.”
Perine starred in 1973’s The Last American Hero and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Lenny Bruce’s (Dustin Hoffman) troubled wife in 1974’s Lenny.
However, it wasn’t until she was cast as Eve Teschmacher in 1978’s Superman: The Movie that Perine became popular with general audiences across the United States.
Her character served as the personal assistant and lover of Lex Luthor, played by Gene Hackman, and Perine reprized the role in 1980’s Superman II.
The same year that she co-starred with Reeve and Hackman in Superman II, Perine appeared in the disco comedy Can’t Stop the Music with The Village People and Caitlyn Jenner.
Can’t Stop the Music was so poorly received that Perine once accused it of “ruining” her career, although it was one of the two films that led to her winning the Golden Raspberry Award.
“Then I moved to Europe and it was very embarrassing,” she said after the film received poor reviews, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to the Lenny and Superman movies, Perine also starred in 1976’s WC Field and Me and 1979’s The Electric Horseman. She appeared with Rod Steiger in the former and Robert Redford in the latter.
Perine also had an impressive television career, and she became the first woman to intentionally show her breasts on television when she appeared in the 1973 PBS television movie Steambath.
Widely regarded as an American sex symbol, Perine has been photographed several times in Playboy magazine and was described as “Hollywood’s sex kitten” in a 1974 New York Times article.
“I have many great memories from my career. I was lucky enough to work with some of the greatest people in the industry at the time in the ’70s,” Perine said in her final interview. “It was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun.”
